November 4 was first introduced as a holiday in Russia, generally recognized as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation, last year to mark Moscow's liberation from Polish invaders in 1612. The new national holiday replaced November 7, which commemorated the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
Last year, 3,000 people from radical right-wing movements, including the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, the Russian National Union, the National Patriotic Front Memory, and skinheads, gathered for the Right March in central Moscow, chanting nationalist slogans such as "Russia for Russians."
In an attempt to avoid last year's embarrassment, Moscow and St. Petersburg authorities decided to ban the action this year.
Moscow police said Wednesday some 6,500 policemen will ensure security November 4 and will stop any attempt to break the law. Mayor Yury Luzhkov said he will not let radical movements destroy Russia's unity.
"We saw the so-called Russian March on November 4 last year, when people were shouting and carrying chauvinist slogans," he said. "Russia will not survive a nationalist split of the state if we do not prevent it."
Racist trends in Russia have recently acquired dangerous forms, culminating in a series of high-profile brutal attacks and at least 10 murders of people with non-Slavic features.
Xenophobic sentiments have also been bred by an influx of migrant workers from poorer former Soviet republics, particularly to rapidly developing Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Following Luzhkov's ban on the Saturday rally, organizers of the radical march said they might hold the event, which they expect to gather at least 10,000 people, at a Moscow underground station. Underground chief Dmitry Gayev, however, said the marchers will not be admitted.
Dmitry Rogozin, of the nationalist Rodina (Motherland) faction, tried to allay concerns about the upcoming march by saying Wednesday the action will use no radical rhetoric. "The marchers will not use any slogans inciting inter-ethnic discord or promoting fascist symbols," he said.
Viktor Alksnis, head of the public council organizing the march, ruled out Friday any political actions in the Moscow underground November 4. He said his council had called on the marchers to transfer the meeting further away from the city center.
Russia's liberal SPS and Yabloko opposition parties said Wednesday that about 2,000 members of their joint organization, the Anti-Fascist Front, will hold a separate rally against neo-Nazis in Moscow November 4 under the motto: "Fascism in Russia Will Not Pass."
Authorities in St. Petersburg followed the example of their colleagues in Moscow and also banned the rally.
"The St. Petersburg administration has received a series of requests to allow [nationalist] actions, meetings and marches but we are totally against it," Governor Valentina Matvienko said, condemning efforts to inflame ethnic strife.
However, police in the city of Volgograd in the south of European Russia said it will not stop the nationalist marchers unless they disrupt public order. Organizers of the local march said they expected 500 people to gather for the event in the city.
